Part 2 – How to Grow a Christ-Centered Church with Pastors Brian and Jessi Gibson

Show Notes

How important are Google reviews really? On this segment of the Thrivetime Show podcast, Dr. Zoellner and Clay Clark are teaching you about gathering Google reviews with Pastor Brian Gibson and the importance of having a budget with Pastor Jessi Gibson of River City Church in Owensboro, KY.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “With an existing business it’s super important that you cash in on your reputation by getting it up onto the internet. Your “Google Trail / Your Online Reputation” has replaced your resume in importance in the eyes of customers and potential employers.” – Clay Clark

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “The missing ingredient for nearly all of the 1,000-plus clients I have worked with directly to improve their businesses is pigheaded discipline and determination. We all get good ideas at seminars and from books, radio talk shows and business-building gurus. The problem is that most companies do not know how to identify and adapt the best ideas to their businesses.Implementation, not ideas, is the key to real success.” – Chet Holmes (The best-selling author of The Ultimate Sales Machine)

**CAUTION – NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Not staying on top of your numbers kills 90% of the businesses we have seen over the years. Most business owners that can sell well ultimately fail because:

They usually do not know their numbers.

They act like a bank (extending credit and longer payment terms to clients)

They invoice people instead of charging a 50% retainer to start the project then they run out of cash when their suppliers want payment, I have seen this unfortunate cash flow poor cycle kill dozens of companies in this industry.” – Clay Clark

As the velocity of the money dramatically increases the numbers must be right and tight.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin (Inventor of the Franklin Stove, bifocals, the former manager of a large newspaper The New England Court and the man who negotiated with the French to secure the funding needed to beat the British in the Revolutionary War)

Do Not Become a Bank (Lending money to companies for 60 days in hopes that they will pay you)

Audio Transcription

Get ready to enter the thrive time show what was your favorite part about being business coach poor, and it was the highlight when you thought man this is awesome. Was it was it having that all the yellow boxes? Was it putting the plastic on the couches and you keep it on there? So you don’t you isn’t it was that your kind of positive thing about that is that I didn’t have to worry about anything in stolen from me. I had nothing, you know what I do have to worry about making a bad investment and losing it all. Here you guys that you have been is pinnacle to have all this money and I make some bad investments in that, lose it all, and they say you don’t want you to do you get some money and then you lose it it’s worse than not having it at all. So I don’t have to worry about about improving your online reputation and we have pastor brian on the show. Today, from owensboro kentucky, we have business coach client paul hood with hood cpas on the show, and what I’m going to do is I’m going to go ahead and pull up here to the left of z. This is a google search, result on the big screen, search for owensboro church and all the churches that come up. I z. This is not a quiz, but this is a super aggressive interaction here. So if you’re looking at the listings here that the first we see is owensboro christian church did you see river city, owensboro, church, owensboro, church of christ church has 18 reviews, river city has 281 and owensboro church of christ has three know I’m really into the church of christ, move and I liked it when they don’t have any music, that’s exciting to me. But what church would you go to based upon those reviews? Well, I’m, based on those reviews, i, would go to the river city owensboro church dad get 5 stars that had 281, that’s pretty impressive, the others don’t have near the reviews and then I guess I was worth church of christ has 5 stars, but then we have to be reviewed 4.3. So there’s two people on stapley reviews:okay, I mean 3 I mean it’s kind of your mom didn’t want. You know your brothers and becoming a thing and yellow pages were still effective.

The yellow peanut was becoming a thing. That’s really good old days. Kids get these days have been too easy for kids wear helmets and you can include that is awesome. Tell your mom that you lock the door to keep you outside the house instead of locking you in these days, like that was a great time, was great great time, I’m going to figure out how the internet works, because everyone uses it so I’ve sold. The company I have a lot of time. Freedom I might as well figure this internet thing out, and one thing it was that blew my mind without everybody reads:reviews but who writes reviews I mean really yeah I want to ask you this pastor brian. When are you free as a business coach client and pastor of the river city church in owensboro? Did it kind of blow your mind? Oh, what a profound impact reviews have on people’s of people’s opinion outsider’s opinion of your church, but yet how little effort is typically spent on gathering these things yeah it really. It really does blow your mind how typically the only person that’s going to write a review or do something like that is a negative person. Negative people are so much more motivated, typically took to share their message in a positive person ever in the world to the exact same way. So like like the other day. I’ll give you an example. We got to call you, you helped us get some i, don’t know what you call it. Calzona street advertising, it’s not politically correct. Now so, I have to come up with another term sign flippers and we had sign flippers going and some guy called and he’s like almost crying. He left the message you said:hey I was having such a bad day, and then I saw all your kids out there with signs inviting people to church, and it just cheered me up and I want to.

Let you know it’s making a difference and I promise you in about 13 years. That’s one of about 5 positive calls like that. You’re ever going to get cuz positive people they’re just going about their life. They appreciate what you do:they’re, not bad. It’s not malicious! It’s just not on the list, but negative people build a life and a float around trying to destroy somebody that maybe even just had a bad day percent of people. According to forbes, read reviews before watching a business coach movie going out to eat investing time to go to church whatever it is until I just want to help somebody out there whose listing him. If he has a church who doesn’t have a lot of reviews. How did you go about getting reviews? Can you have thousands of members and I mean? Do you just say, okay, we’re going to we’re going to pray for reviews and we can have to ask people to fast for the reason you have not, because you ask not I did all of that I fasted on march that prayed I did all of that. No actually I asked people and-and you help me set up drivetime help me set up a schedule on what I was going to push on what day of the month, and so there’s a day that comes around every month. You don’t get up there. Every week, I’m in a pulpit come on we’re reaching the bottom number on your bus reviews, but but you got to build those things in once a month. I’m asking for review and up the cask is something like this.

It’s like hey. We live in a digital world. More people are reading these google reviews, then they’re coming just because a friend talks to them. You haven’t noticed yet people don’t have friends, they have phones. Now what we have to do is we have to get good reviews. So please consider giving us a 5-star review if there’s an area of the church. That’s touched, your life, the kids ministry, the music. The word just write a couple of lines on their give it 5 stars, and you help people find our faith community people for reviews I just feel like they should just give them to me organically. You know and I have some bad reviews. I’ve been doing this for 25 years, but I believe in the right around the corner, I’m going to get some good ones. You say to someone who doesn’t ask for reviews what the trolls to run your google reviews, I’m old enough, that I remember back at young enough back in the day. Thank you. I appreciate that very much as a business coach. I remember, you know, there’s a saying that said an unhappy customers going to tell 10 people and a happy customer might till one or two will now that’s big put zeros on the end of that right. Cuz. Now, with this thing, thank you, al gore. By the way we haven’t had a shout out to dinner with us and he apparently a bit of the internet, bigger and mike. There. Well done out job well done, wow! Well, that will reverse that global warming, people that are fell out there I’m wrong or dis much more motivated. You know when you go in and have a good experience, you’re thinking to yourself, I expected that, because that’s why I went there, I want to ask you spell how many reviews do you have it on your bartlesville location for hood cph right now about a hundred and twenty four for 20-something years, but 25 years between all three offices, where we’re a little over 300 reviews now and yeah we’d same thing we asked for and we we put up, we actually went so far.

We could have a laptop out at our front desk everyone and when they come in, we have it ready for me just right there, and you know it’s it’s it’s the same thing, as is:if we do well for you, please share the message, and here we’ll make it convenient for you to share the message. What happens by default? If you let a facebook ad or a google ad run, and you just look that toxic buildup hook her and you don’t eventually get out front of it. I’ll listen, wait. We ran one i, think church to be fun. We put together a marketing campaign, it said church is fun. Bible says:jesus was anointed with oil of gladness, above all his companions right and then the people that got angry because we said there are thousands of business coach people that hate the idea that church should be fun. So they don’t know. Church should be holy, I agree, but it can also be fun. Church should be whatever you think, but since I’m cold I like hospice or something, but eventually you have to clean that out and start over or become so toxic jesse would look at it. But my wife she’s, like uncle brian, look at this. This is turning terrible, so you got to kill it and start over. You got to be proactive about managing your online reputation. We go back to talk about building a sustainable budget for your organization, the world’s best business workshop america’s number one business coach for free and your contact information to input, drivetime, show.Com right right, nation, welcome back, because my time show on your radio and podcast download I’m super excited, because today, inside the studio we have pastor jesse was made it here all the way from owensboro kentucky. We have paul hood oklahoma’s number one cpa.

In every way we have dr. Z, who always brings ecstasy when he was next to me, see you were talking about building a sustainable budget. Now this is i, think a great topic to talk about with pastor jesse, because you couldn’t be more passionate about an organization to be a pastor, but yet even in the ministry, you have to have a bunch of drama start with u doctors and ask you this:what role should have budget have in any business for it? Cuz I’m passionate? So it’s not about the numbers. Baby say:it’s about, the passion. It says money, here’s what you going to do and here’s where you’re going to go your directing your resources and you pre-planned it so that you’re not then like panic mode going. Where are you coming accounting? This is how I did I did see that we kiss i, don’t hang glider, don’t ski. This is how I get this and every every so often they’re. Just so stressed out about you know they have a surprise I wonder if I have any money in my business coach check book wonder and it’s a risky, the river city church, literally nothing after going to oral roberts university I mean you move to owensboro kentucky anybody there we were introduced to two families. Before we started the church in owensboro *, you can have started the first right and we would have loved $7 and then, when did you realize? Okay, the church is big enough, for we probably now need to have a buddy who are starting i, get when your startup I mean a budget’s kind of like i. Take a hundred percent of everything. Put it into that, the one that you realize. Okay, it’s time to probably have somebody on our team looking at the numbers. Well, it’s within the first two months, probably because we needed a place to meet, we needed chairs to sit in and we started thinking man.

We really got to come up with something to let you know that we got to come up with some plan. What is important as what is our church going to do? What is our church going to look like, and then we have to sign dollars to those spot, ministry your congregation to look out there and go that’s a $7 per person. There’s eight hundred people there that’s going to be how many, but how do you account for it? Do you figure out there’s an average donation per person? Do you do you? How do you? How do you budget? How do you, how do you? How do you sing out there there in ministry? How do you budget I mean? Is there a certain number per member of the church bible, so it’s kind of exciting to us when we actually get something that you can put a number to? We don’t get a lot of that, it’s all going to be turtle, I’m sure we’ll have crowns, but you know it’s not like you can just see it today. So we love to count people and we love whenever we can know-and there are at national averages to that, depending on what kind of city you’re in town, what kind of church that you are, whether it’s super evangelistic and you’re, reaching people that have never been to sure whether or not it’s a church that is kind of very, very churchy, and there are numbers that aren’t on average, and then we understand that we have to have so much to minister to that human being, and so many people that were never donate $1, so we just have to average it out amongst them. How much of a stress is the budget when running a church? I mean it is a big thing. I think about is it is a small kind of how big of a of a part does the budget play in to your conversations about growing the ministry and what you’re doing you can’t do it without money? I mean we love, you know, jesus is what you’re doing and it’s what you’re giving to business coach people in jesus and salvation are free, but ministering to people is not part of every conversation. What what is the maximum that we can do with this dollar? How many? What is the maximum amount of people that we can reach with this dollar and then making sure that you set up things that are going to reach those people with those dollars? He said. No, your number she says know your numbers is a fundamental precept of business.

How paul benjamin franklin, who couldn’t be here today, he said beware of little expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship if you were going to work with a church out there for any organization and you’re going to help them establish a budget. What’s the first couple of steps that you would do for to help you listening to what we typically do because of budget really from the back from the other side, I hold you accountable. So if you can set up budget and it for entertainment, then and you’ve already exceeded your entertainment budget as a family in the next movie came out and it’s the 29th of the month you’re going to wait until the next month. So what we do is I was the starting point is where’s your money going right now, and so we typically will tell a client or church or business right. Let’s take the last 6 months in a schedule out. Where did the money go and then we look for waste and look for where’s places. We should be spending money on and then we establish that bass line, so we can hold ourselves accountable and then we do proformance to see with growth. This is what it should be, and this is where we go, but we start with where it where their money is going at the current the currently z I want to bring up. This is awkward awkward part of the shelby rockford attended church. There’s certain pastors that the way that they mentioned money makes me feel weird and there a certain business owners to do it too. As an example, if I needed to collect a payment from somebody, that’s a hate going to put them in a debit card or credit card, but no big deal, but some people kind of tanks like hate to bring this up. But you know, if you were going to pay me, how would you like me a girl like you, like me, I mean we were going to science paper on their pastor, brian and and pastor jesse.

You guys have this this first fruits. That thing you do and you guys it doesn’t feel weird when you talk about finances, you’re, very transparent, that you were talking about the subject, citing things as replacing your flat roof, which I know is I love to give to their who’s. Listening, who has a business or a church and they’re feeling awkward about mentioning money or budgets or asking for money? What advice would you have for? My advice would be if you’re handling money, clean and you’re doing things right. You have no reason to feel awkward about mentioning business coach money. So, to me is long as everything is on the up-and-up. There’s, accountability and everything’s running clean i. Don’t ever have to stand up there and feel bad about anything. They’re given to save lives were given to put people in heaven or giving to make sure kids know the ten commandments, which we could use these days, we’re giving to make sure they know the books of the bible that they know that their loved and that when they grow up no matter what happens anywhere in the world, they know that the church is a safe place for them to come and that it’s where they want to have their families and so I guess that just takes the awkward out of it for me, because, as long as I know that everything’s clean in the end up in the bookkeeping office, then I have the freedom to just act at you know just let people know what they get to give because I give too and I love it.

So much it’s the best thing. I do with my money, so I’m pumped about it see. This is something I want to get your take on here or what are business owners hate, raising their prices? They hate mentioning money to their staff that hate talking about payroll i, don’t really have an issue with them, so I don’t understand why people get stressed out about asking that were mentioning what people get paid, but what’s that phobia from so much prettier, just two totally not address the topic of raising prices or paying their people properly. What what’s going on there and kind of wrapped around rejection? You know if you gave you tell a great story about to back in the day you give yourself a raise by raising your dj jobs, $40 a piece and-and you were like i, don’t know, I’m going to lose business. People are going to scream at me and you, you know you may have lost a show or two, but you know what you’re doing hundreds of them. That’s you know you. If you do the business coach math on it, you make so much more money and doing it, and so you lie because people don’t understand that. How long has it been since you’re right price? It doesn’t make sense to raise prices at some of the mentoring. We do here thrive nation and we’re trying to encourage people hate. You got him in there. You don’t have to get the stuff away and you think you can make a profit and you need to pay yourself. First, you nosey, think about speaking to fear is false evidence appearing real. What, if you have a really scary, bathroom, actual real fear and others, because it’s it needs to be maintained. What they’re right I mean you’re going or is it the quiktrip quality chick-fil-a quality starbucks quality classic janitorial, see why you got to get the best use of your time play in their describing on that toilet? Is it to go to the toothbrush message I like to just get in there and just spend at least 3 or 4 hours, purse I got to get close to the scene close to the action. What would I go about to be on their website? The classic clean.Com you get a free quote so just put that thing out dude. Is that really the best use of your time I mean i? Know you got to mow the yard. I know you’re, not the clean, the bathroom I know you enjoy that kind of electrical. You have a low battery and I don’t want to do that. Call 918-671-2046 918-671-2046. We come back we’re to talk about more about growing, an organization